Hi. I am scheduled for an interview on Monday, for a job that seems like it may be interesting. However, judging from the phonecalls I’ve gotten, my interviewer is a complete idiot.
He called Tuesday afternoon to try to schedule me for Thursday or Friday. He got my answering machine; I was out at the time. He called again this morning and asked me if I could drive on out and interview tomorrow. (By the way, it’s a 2-hour drive to the site.) I am still in school, working on a group project this week, and I would never ditch my group like that. Besides, I always try to give people a week’s notice for anything, so I strongly suspect that this guy’s etiquette sucks.
Anyway, judging by the looks I was giving him over the phone, I’m gonna have to conceal what I think of him in order to have a shot at the job. Unfortunately, I am the most transparent person I know. How do I do this? Smile inanely the whole time? Think of a mantra in my head to distract me from this guy’s idiot tendencies? He’s already got a strike against him for using the common nickname to my name, which I HATE. Help!
Maybe I’m the dummy, but how is it wrong or inappropriate to ask you if you can come for an interview tomorrow? Does the interviewer/recruiter know about your previous commitments?
In my area, the job situation is sufficiently bad that job hunters will rearrange their schedules to make interviews. Jobs are not exactly plentiful around here right now.
HR is a department that often seems to be replete with sub-morons. I’ve met some splendid exceptions, but then again, these are the ones always spouting;
“There’s no I in team work!”
To which I say, “Yeah, but there’s an eat and a me!”
As Red Mike has pointed out, there is a “me” in “team.”
I also fail to see why this guy is an idiot. He doesn’t know your schedule, and asking a only a couple of days in advance is hardly rude – the decision to call you may have just been made, and they wanted the interviews over by a particular day.
Your best bet is to chill out. There was nothing stupid about what he did.
Deep centering breaths. Seriously, keep oxygen flowing to the brain and stay calm.
Start out smiling slightly, that way when he does something stupid and you manage to contain your laughter, you just end up grinning a bit wider. You come off as happy rather than laughing at him.
Don’t get angry, deep breaths, small smile. Calmly ask him if he could use your full name, but keep the “GAH! I HATE that nickname!” to yourself. (I’m with you there. I refused to speak to a school because they sent me their offer using a common nickname of my name. I hate all the short forms of my name. Make my skin itch.)
This is one of those things you’ll pick up as you move from school to the corporate world. The HR person is not an idiot, he doesn’t doesn’t care about you individually. He gets lists of names every day from managers, with instructions to make contact and arrange an interview time, usually as soon as possible. A single HR person might be trying to make these same arrangements for 30-50 positions.
They just don’t have time, nor do they care to, research your available before calling. It’s not worth their while, unless your are being recruited for something way high up in the senior management positions. They’ll allways suggest the most convenient time for them, and you can accept or not.
Anything they have on paper for candidate’s availity is likely to be unreliable after a few days anyway.
My best advice for the interview to come is not to leap to conclusions on what is “idiotic” about the place. Withhold your contempt till later, when they’ve truly earned it; which, most likely, they will.
Thanks, all. Helpful suggestions. Hopefully this goes well. I don’t understand it–usually I can keep an open mind for long after I’ve met a person, but this time…I’ve just got a feeling, I dunno. We’ll see.
I feel your pain. I also did the “I’m a college student and interviewing two hours away” thing two years ago. Most of the HR people were nice enough to listen when I said “I’m a college student and live two hours away” and worked with me to find mutually agreeable interview times.
This guy doesn’t sound evil, just flaky. Do you know if he’d be in any position of authority over you? Sometimes the person who interviews you is just an HR drone and you won’t hardly have to interact with them after that.
As for the nickname thing, it’s a big pet peeve of mine. I’d just smile and very nicely say, “I always go by Magickly Delicious, not Leprechaun, thanks.”
Try to consider him culturally different, rather than really stupid. Or perhaps even try to look on him as an idiot-savant that some enlightened corporation has hired. i.e.: He is really good at discerning who the right people are for the job, but really sh**ty at getting them there.
